Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Vegetarian (Yes!) Chicken & Waffles

Don't you jut love it when your dreams and ideas come to fruition? This recipe is something that I have been dreaming of forever! The idea for this recipe just popped into my head one night last week, and it was so clear that I wondered how I didn't think of it before. I was craving french toast, which made me think of this Frosted Flake coated french toast that they serve at a restaurant in Pasadena called Marstons. This brought me to a craving for chicken and waffles (although I have been a vegetarian for some time now)... this finally got me thinking that maybe I could create a crunchy fried chicken-like vege version by coating "fake" chicken in crunchy corn flakes. I googled corn flake coated chicken and found a super simple recipe that was not only baked and not fried (yay) but it was also easy to replace the chicken for a vegetable protein. I gave it a try, and guess what? It turned out perfectly! So perfectly, that my carnivorous hubby was super impressed that he couldn't tell that I hadn't used real chicken in the recipe at all.

Ingredients:

For the "chicken" (or chick-un as I like to call it)

Quorn Chick-un Vegetable cutlets

1 3/4 cups corn flakes, crushed

1 egg

1 cup milk, nonfat (I used Almond Breeze)

1 cup flour

Pepper and paprika to taste

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

Crush Corn Flakes in a shallow bowl, leaving some larger flakes, and set aside. Thaw the frozen Quorn cutlets in the microwave for about 30 seconds on each side. Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Slightly beat the egg and milk together with a fork or whisk in a medium mixing bowl. Add the flour, pepper and paprika and mix until smooth. Dip each of the Quorn cutlets into the batter, and then dip into the crushed Corn Flakes, coating generously. Use your hands to crush some of the flakes onto any bare parts, you want the cutlets to be completely coated. Place into your prepared baking dish. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the coating is crispy and the cutlets are heated through.

During the last 10 minutes or so of baking your cutlets, start preparing your waffles. I recently purchased a bubble waffle maker, and it is the best! I used a rough version of this recipe here, but replaced the peanut butter with banana. You can use your favorite waffle recipe, you can't go wrong in the waffle department.

When everything is done, plate a waffle and place a cutlet of your vege chicken right on top. Drizzle with your favorite classic syrup, or try my recipe for orange marmalade syrup below:

*The orange marmalade I used was pretty bitter by itself, but if the kind you buy is already sweet, there is no need to add the honey or sugar. You can simply add a little vanilla and the 1/2 cup almond milk or milk of your choice.

Scoop the marmalade from the jar and place into a microwave-safe mug or bowl. Mix in your almond milk, stirring well with a fork to break up any marmalade clumps. Microwave for about 1 minute, or until hot. Stir in your honey and vanilla sugar if needed.

Hope you enjoy this Vegetarian version of a classic breakfast! Of course, you can use real chicken if you would like, but I really recommend giving the Quorn vege cutlets a try!